1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a machine for customizing a cosmetic product at the point of sale to a customer.
2. The Related Art
Selection of the optimal color shade is often a customer's chief concern in purchasing a cosmetic facial product. A number of companies in the industry have sought to render easier the selection process. Clinique and Clarion have installed computers at sales counters for use by the customer. Information on color shade, oiliness and other properties of a customer's skin are punched into the computer which then determines the company's most closely matching product.
Another point of sale technique has been that of custom blending. Two major companies, Prescriptives (division of Estee Lauder) and Visage (division of Revlon) begin a sale by manually evaluating a subject's skin color. The salesperson then adjusts existing finished foundations so as to match the evaluated skin color. Unfortunately, there are many disadvantages in manual blending. The most obvious of these is that too much time is required for a match, sometimes 30-45 minutes. On many occasions there is a poor skin match, reproducibility is poor and extensive training is required of the salesperson.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that can custom blend ingredients for delivery of a cosmetic product in a reduced period of time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a custom blending machine for ingredients to obtain a cosmetic product that matches skin properties with a particular optimum reproducible formula.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a custom blending machine for ingredients to form a cosmetic product wherein the machine is suitable for placement in a department store and can readily be operated by a salesperson.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a custom blending machine for ingredients to obtain a cosmetic product that is highly accurate in dispensing each of the ingredients.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent through consideration of the following summary, drawing and detailed description which follow.